Issue 27 - July 09
Fantasy Crystal Blendo
Pavel / Pat Fallon
Available from: www.practical-magic.com
£75.00 + £6.75 P&P
Practical Magic are now arguably the
Firstly you have the quality of the goods supplied. This
routine comes with a beautifully made and neatly finished wooden box which
measures 240mm wide x 167mm deep x 140mm high (at its highest point). The box
actually has a fairly steeply sloping top to it, this top being a hinged lid.
The 8mm thick wood gives the box an extremely robust feel and the hinges look
like they will cope with constant use. The lid catch is a little thin and small
so if there is a weak point in the box's construction, that is where it is, but
actually the lid is held naturally closed in any case due to the shape of the
box, so the catch is in some ways fairly redundant. Inside, the box is prepared
in a simple way so that it will act as a switching device. Since the inside of
the box is not shown during the routine, exactly how this is constructed is
relatively unimportant, but even here there is attention to detail which ensures
that it will work effectively in performance.
As well as the box you also receive a 36"
multicoloured silk square, four 18" silks of different colours, two
identical perspex 190mm long tubes and a single piece of shiny 'wrapping' paper.
I imagine this will quickly get creased and damaged and so will need to be
replaced, but at least they give you a piece to start you off. So, all the props
are good quality and everything is supplied so that it is ready to go.
The second reason why PM is so well thought of, is that
they like to sell routines to go with their props. In this case, Pat Fallon has
supplied his presentation which purchasers of his recently released
The method is very simple but the handling is, in many
ways, illogical. To put four silks into a tube, wrap a piece of paper round it
and then pretty much immediately unwrap it and pull the silks out again, is not
the greatest sequence known to magicdom, but Pat Fallon's story does quite well
in achieving the impossible - making the handling seem logical, so full marks to
Pat!
Jeremy suggests that the effect would work equally well for
adults, although I do wonder what sort of adult audience (!), but really the
best target audience would be youngsters and for them it is nice piece of
colourful, visual magic that is easy to follow and pleasing on the eye. ML
What's Hot: quality of the props
What's Not: it's a big box to affect a simple switch
Star Rating: ****
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